Elevator garage

ABSTRACT

1. A STRUCTURE FOR PARKING A VEHICLE ON SUPERPOSED FLOORS HAS AN ELEVATOR, VEHICLE STORAGE MEANS ON EACH FLOOR AND A SHAFT SPACE RECEIVING SAID ELEVATOR AND EXTENDING THROUGH SAID FLOORS, SAID VEHICLE INCLUDING A FIRST ROTATABLE GROUND ENGAGING MEANS NEAR ONE LONGITUDINAL END AND A SECOND ROTATABLE GROUND ENGAGING MEANS NEAR THE OTHER END, COMPRISING IN COMBINATION: A PAIR OF TRANSFER MEANS REMOVABLY DISPOSED ON SAID ELEVATOR AND OPERABLE TO MOVE TRANSVERSELY OF THE VEHICLE LENGTH, EACH OF SAID TRANSFER MEANS BEING OPERABLE TO RECEIVE A GROUND ENGAGING MEANS, RESPECTIVELY, AT LEAST TWO VEHICLE STORAGE MEANS DISPOSED ADJACENT SAID ELEVATOR ON EACH FLOOR INCLUDING A RECEIVING PORTION, SAID TRANSFER MEANS BEING MOVABLE WITH A VEHICLE THEREON TO A PLACE NEAR SAID STORAGE MEANS, DISPLACING MEANS MOUNTED ON SAID TRANSFER MEAND FOR LENGTHWISE DISPLACEMENT OF THE VEHICLE INTO SAID STORAGE MEANS FROM SAID TRANSFER MEANS IN SAID PLACE, SAID DISPLACEMENT MEANS BEING OPERATIVE TO ENGAGE A GROUND ENGAGING MEANS OF SAID VEHICLE WHEREBY THERE OCCURES A SHIFTING OF SAID GROUND ENGAGING MEANS LENGTHWISE OF SAID VEHICLE ONTO A RECEIVING PORTION THEREOF WHILE THE OTHER GROUND ENGAGING MEANS IS MOVED TO AN AREA DISPOSED FORWARDLY OF SAID TRANSFER MEANS, SAID RECEIVING PORTION BEING DISPOSED BETWEEN SAID PAIR OF TRANSFER MEANS.

United States Patent 1191 I UNITED STATES PATENTS l.864,7ll 6/1932 Buettell; ..2l4/l6.lDC

Roth [451 Dec. '24, 1974 [54] ELEVATOR GARAGE FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [76] Inventor! Anton Roth, Miihlstrasse 19, 922,075 3/1963 Great Britain 2l4/l6.l DC Hanau/Main, Germany I [22] Filed: May110, 1971 Primary Examiner-Gerald M. Forlenza 1 7 Assistant Examiner-R. B. Johnson [211 App! 4 5 Attomey Agent, 0r Firm Ernest F. Marmorek Related US. Application Data i v [62] Division Of S'er. NO. 766389, Oct. 10, 19 8, [57] ABSTRACT A structure for parking vehicles on superposed floors Foreign Appllcatlon 'l y Data has an elevator, vehicle storagemeans, a shaft space Oct. 13. 1967 Germany ...I6 84 904 receiving the elevator and extending through the Oct. 22, I968 Germany ..17 59 941 floors. A pair of transfer means removably disposed on the elevator and are operable to move transversely [52] U.S. Cl. 2l4/16.l DC, 2l4/16.l CA of the vehiclelength and to receive a vehicle wheel, [5 1] Int. Cl E04h 6/06 the transfer means being movable with a vehicle [58] Field of Search ..'2l4/16.1 C, 16.1 -CA, thereon to a place near a parking place thereupon dis- M n V I 16.1 Q placing means'on the transfer means move the vehicle at least, partially into the parking place. [56] References Cited 1 5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTED [153241974 3.856.160

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INVENTOR: Amy Ban" 8m am Pmmfumw 3,856,160

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INVENTOR: ANToM Eon-4 iw-M . ELEVATOR GARAGE This is, a division of the parent application Ser. No.

766,389, filed on Oct. 10, 1968, for Method of Parking Vehicles in Elevator Type Garages and Apparatus to Carry 'Out Such Method.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to an elevator garage and seeks to reduce the need for outside-street parking spaces especially in older cities. This may be done by making use of unused areas in back yards, in building gaps and in using relatively narrow pieces of land within existing structures.

It has been proposed to achieve this aim by using an elevator garage, which is nothing more than the crosssectional area of an elevator shaft. Along one of its longitudinal sides parking places are provided for the vehicles. These places are arranged in the form of superposed tiers' and along one front side thereof extend in the lengthwise direction of the motor vehicle.

For such an elevator garage wherein'there is one parking place each being provided parallel to the next,

a cross-sectionalarea of about 18 feet (6 meters) in length'and of about 18 feet (6 meters) in width is needed. I Q I The difficulty encountered with this type of parking arrangement is that one must find a mechanical system' which can function reliably, be economical and which is able to move a vehicle sidewiseQThe latter operation hitherto was considered impossible without elaborate lifting arrangements inasmuch as the sidewise displacement of a vehicle on its three or four wheels or ground engagement means represented an insurmountable physical problem due to the frictional resistance. Therefore, hitherto the sidewise diaplacement of a vehicle required a lifting of the wheels off of the transriage abutting against the wheels from the inside, or a lifting carriage which engages the car forwardly of the front wheels and in the back behind the rear wheels are technically very complicated. In designing some consideration must be had to the dimensions and weights of the vehicles expected to be parked in the given structure. Insomuch as they must be inserted under cars having a very low body, their own heighths must have been accordingly limited in order to be able to serve most types of vehicles. These lifting devices without exception require a complicated and expensive structure for their operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is accordingly one of the principal objects of the present invention to provide a novel structure for the parking of vehicles on successive floors displaced one above the other, therefore eliminating the shortcomings of the above-mentioned known parking structures.

.It is another object of the instantinvention to facilitate the foregoing without the need to drastically restructure existing buildings.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the following specification and in part will be obvious therefrom without being specifically referred to, the same being realized and attained as pointed out in the claims hereof. Broadly speaking, the foregoing is accomplished by ensuring that the elevator garage preferrably has parking places in superposed tiers arranged on both sides of the elecator shaft. The parking places which are located on the ground level ordinarily are used as vehicular entrance and exit portions. The elevator garage furthermore consists of an elevator unit which is located in the shaft way and which unit, displays a pair of crosswise slidable platforms or transfer trucks the platforms being removable and movable transversely of the vehicular length. These platforms are operable to receive the front pair wheels and the rear pair of wheels of the vehicle to be parked.

The side by side parking places are designed in such a manner so that the platforms can be moved at least partially into, the parking space. One or both platforms possess a shifting device which in the longitudinal direction of the parked vehicle is operable to act at least on one of the wheels thereof so as to shift the same within the parking place to an area between the platforms and to also shift the other pair of wheels next to the other platform.

The two cross-wise slidable platforms may form units "which are independent of one another, while at the same time being able to move synchronously into and out of the parking places. The parking places are so constructed that they possess two recessed areas at their underside portions which are broad and deep enough so the two platforms fit thereinto during the moving in operation. The region of the bottom section ofthe parking place which is located between these recessed areas is so constructed that it can retain therein the ceiling or floor of the next succeeding tier. The foregoing therefore provides for a self contained easily adaptable structure.

In another embodiment of the present invention the two cross-wise slidable platforms may form component parts of a common connectingmember, the latter designed in a manner such that it can be driven into the parking place transversely of the vehicle length and thereafter out again. In such cases, the floors of the parking places must not only have the aforementioned recessed areas into which the two platforms will fit, but, within the region of these two recessed areas the floor sections must be so designed at their lowermost side,

that the connecting member can cut underneath this region during the cross-wsie sliding operations.

In the foregoing manner it is possible to move the vehicle which is to be parked in a direction transverse to its vehicle length thereby moving it into parking places which are located to the right orleft of the elevator shaft. This is done while the vehicle remains resting on its own wheels and without having to be hoisted up first by means of large bulky complicated devices and thereafter lowered again. 'As soon as a prospective vehicle which is to be parked is driven into the parking area or garage it is moved downwardly away from the entrance thereof with the aid of a shifting device, namely in longidudinal direction of the two cross-wise slidable platforms, whereby one pair of wheels stand between the two cross-wiseslidable platforms and the other pair comes to rest next to one of these platforms and is stopped thereby.

accompanying drawings and described in the specification.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE VIEWS For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of one of the floors of the park provided. The landing areas 7 are constructed in such a manner at their underside that the connecting mem ber can'slide thereunder in the region between platforms 5a and 5b. The landing area 7 prevents the car from moving when it is being placed into the parking place.

From the hereinabove' described position (FIG. 3)

' the vehicle is moved or slid toward the left, into the ing structure according to the invention including a simplified transport carriage which is shown in greater detail in FIG. 5; v

FIG. .2 is similar to FIG. 1 but showing a vehicle in its stored position;

F IG. 3 is similar to FIG. 1 but showing the vehicle before it is-moved to its storage position;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view, partly in section showing one of the storage columns ofthe structure in accordance with'the invention, a car on the main floor before being elevated, a car on the second floor in storage position, and a vacant storage space on the third floor;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the transport carriage in the structure according to the invention; and 7 FIG. 6 is a plan view of a part of the displacement device in the carriage as shown in FIG. 5.

In'carrying'the invention into effect in the embodiments which have been selected for illustration in the accompanying drawings and for description in this specification, there is shown an elevator garage provided with two parking places 1 and 2 in several columns on top of one another located to the right and left of an elevator shaft 3. An elevator 4 bears two crosswise slidable platforms 5a and 5b, which sit on a common connecting member 5. The connecting member 5 can be driven back and forth along guide rails 6a within the parking places and can be driven into and out of the parking places 1 and 2 to the right and left of the elevator. At the beginning of the parking operation, the motor vehicle is moved either on its own or by an external force into the parking place on the ground level which serves the entrances and exit portion for the vehicle (FIG. 1).. The motor vehicle at this point rests with its two pairs of wheels on the pair of two crosswise slidable platforms 5a and 512, during the cross-wise movement of the connecting member 5 the vehicle is brought by these platforms 5a, 5b to an elevator 4 and is thereafter lifted by same to the level of the desired parking place. In order to ensure that these platforms 5a and 5b can be moved into the parking places at the same level with their respective connecting member 5, the parking places are constructed such that .each displays recessed areas at Hand 15 at their lowermost portion 7.. A landing area pedestal portions is provided which may remain standing between the areas of platforms 50 and 5b in the parking places andwhereby parking places are present to the left and to the right of said landing area 7; a longer arking area 8 is also final position (FIG. '2) so that the vehicle now rests with its front wheels on theparking area 8 and with its rear wheels on the landing area 7, which for this purpose is provided with a hollowed-out region in order to accommodate and retain the deposited vehicle.

The device, by means of which the vehicle is moved from the two platforms 5a and 5b onto the adjacent areas (7, 8) of the parking places, is shown, in greater detail in FIGS. 5 and 6 where; a displacing carriage 9 is provided for this purpose (FIG. 5). Along one side of the connecting member 5 the displacing carriage 9 is arranged in such a manner that a horizontally lying transport device 12 (shown as a pair of rollers in FIG. 6) which can be swiveled and after having been so swiveled at right angles, is in position to engage thenearest rear wheel from the outside of the vehicle placed on the crosswise slidable platforms 5a, 5b. In this position the displacing carriage 9 moves the vehicle by means of a conveyor device, such as a drive chain 10 mounted on the front and rear crosswise slidable platforms 5a and 5b and which is synchronously driven on both, in the left and right hand direction thereof.

In order to provide for secure and safe guiding of the wheels during the aforesaid movement of the vehicle within the storage space, additional guide rails 6 (FIG. 1, 2 and 5) are provided on both the front and rear platforms 5a, 5b at a distance corresponding to the greatest width between the vehicle wheels.

In order to provide that the landing area 7 can be bridged, the displacing carriage 9 atboth its ends has a guide extension 13 (FIG. 6) which corresponds substantially to the width of the landing area 7.

I wish it to beunderstood that I do not desire to be limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to'be secured by Letters Patent, is as follows:

l. A structure for parking a vehicle on superposed floors has an elevator, vehicle storage means on each floor and a shaft space receiving said elevator and extending through said floors, said vehicle including a first rotatable ground engaging means near one longitudinal end and a second rotatable ground engaging means near the other end,

comprisingin combination:

a pair of transfer means removably disposed on'said elevator and operable to move transversely of the vehicle length, each of said transfer means being operable to receive a ground engaging means, respectively, at least two vehicle storage means disposed adjacent said elevator on each floor including a receiving portion, said transfer means being means in said place, said displacement means being i operative to engage a ground engaging means of said vehicle whereby there occurs a shifting of said ground engaging means lengthwise of said vehicle onto a receiving portion therefor while the other ground engaging'means is moved to an area disposed forwardly of said transfer means, said receiving portion being disposed between said pair of transfer means.

2. A structure, as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said ground engaging means is a pair of parallel wheels.

3. A structure, as claimed in claim 2, wherein said pair of transfer means comprises a connecting member, said connecting member being operative to be driven into and out of said place transversely of the vehicle wheel of said vehicle when said displacement means is actuated, whereby said vehicle is moved in the longitudinal direction thereof.

5. A structure, as claimed in claim 2, and guide means mounted on said transport means operative to guide the vehicle wheels on one side of the vehicle. 

